Chapters 1 through 5 Summary

Henry says his first memory is of being under something. He thinks it was a table. It was 1922 in Germany, and he was between one and two years old. His memories are spotty and among them is food. He says people were "always eating". Then the entire family is in America. Henry remembers visiting his grandmother in Pasadena and playing her piano. He remembers visiting his grandfather, though his parents didn't get out of the car. Instead, Henry gets out alone and says that his grandfather is "the most beautiful man I have ever known". His grandfather gives him "a gummy badge" from his years of service in the German military and a pocket watch.

Henry's family has a Model T and he says that on many Sundays when his grandmother didn't visit the family would go for a ride, often...